SpaceX可能不再是国际空间站（ISS）唯一的载人运输工具了。此前，NASA和波音公司都表示，波音公司的Starliner飞船（也被称为“灾难胶囊”）将在2028年再次执行载人飞行任务。根据计划，波音公司将于2026年12月至2027年1月期间发射无人驾驶的Starliner-1飞船，而载人版本的Starliner-2则将在2028年进行首次飞行。
SpaceX might not be the ISS's only ride after NASA and Boeing claimed that Starliner - aka the aerospace giant's Calamity Capsule - will fly again and carry a crew in 2028. The plan is to launch an uncrewed vehicle, the Starliner-1, in the December 2026 / January 2027 timeframe, and a crewed vehicle, Starliner-2, sometime in 2028. Starliner-1 will ferry cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and, if all goes well, humans will take their turn on Starliner-2.
Starliner-1将负责向国际空间站运送货物；如果一切顺利，人类乘客将乘坐Starliner-2执行后续的载人飞行任务。NASA还计划追加第五次和第六次前往国际空间站的飞行任务，并推动Vulcan火箭的认证工作——因为目前用于发射Starliner的Atlas V火箭即将被逐步淘汰。2025年，NASA缩减了与波音公司的合同内容，将原定的六次飞行任务减少到了四次。
NASA also intends to exercise options for a fifth and sixth flight to and from the ISS and to get the Vulcan rocket certified for use after the Atlas V, which has launched Starliner to date, is finally phased out. In 2025, NASA pared back the Starliner contract and modified its order from six to four missions. At the time, Boeing was aiming for no earlier than April 2026 for Starliner-1, something that has now slipped to the end of the year and might go beyond.
波音公司原本预计Starliner-1的发射时间不会早于2026年4月，但现在这一时间已被推迟至年底甚至更晚。有人可能会质疑：既然自2014年合同签订以来Starliner项目仅完成过一次载人飞行，为何还要继续投入大量资金？2024年的飞行测试以飞船空返回地球告终——因为控制系统判断飞船存在多处故障，存在太大安全风险；当时执行任务的宇航员Butch Wilmore和Suni Williams不得不在国际空间站等待数月，直到通过SpaceX的Crew-9任务才得以返回地球。
An observer might wonder what the point is of splashing cash on a program that has managed one crewed flight since the contract was awarded in 2014. 2024's flight test ended with an empty capsule returning to Earth after controllers decided multiple failures had made it too risky for humans. The crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, had to wait on the ISS for months until returning as part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Boeing's Starliner has struggled, but SpaceX's Crew Dragon is proven and essential for getting crews to and from the ISS.
虽然波音公司的Starliner项目面临诸多挑战，但SpaceX的Crew Dragon飞船已被证明是可靠的载人运输工具，其在国际空间站运输任务中发挥了关键作用。不过，SpaceX的Crew Dragon飞船的“黄金时代”可能即将结束：NASA最近已为国际空间站安排了另外三次Crew Dragon飞行任务，因此2028年似乎是该飞船任务的最后一年（至少目前是这样）。
Its run may be ending though. NASA recently added three more Crew Dragon missions to the ISS, and 2028 appears to be the end of the road (at least for now).
这种不确定性，加上未来需要载人服务的商业空间站的不断增加，或许会为Starliner项目带来新的机会。NASA强调：维持美国的载人运输能力对于有序关闭国际空间站、顺利过渡到商业空间站系统以及推动商业航天产业的发展至关重要。
That uncertainty, plus the coming wave of commercial stations that will need crew access, could give Starliner an opening. NASA says maintaining a US crew transportation capability is essential to winding down the ISS responsibly, transitioning to commercial stations, and expanding commercial success.
波音公司表示，在机组飞行测试期间发现的21个“异常现象”中，已有19个问题得到了解决；剩余的问题预计也将在10月前得到解决。对飞船所做的改进包括：更换了所有12个载人舱反推发动机上的阀门、改进了降落伞的连接结构，并升级了电池系统（这些改进是由NASA提供的）。考虑到“星际客机”（Starliner）项目耗费的巨额资金，人们很难不使用“沉没成本谬误”（即认为已经投入的资金无法回收）这一概念来评价该项目。
Boeing stated that 19 of the 21 in-flight "anomalies" noted during the crew flight test are now closed, with the remainder due to close in October. Changes made to the spacecraft include the replacement of valves on all 12 of the crew module reaction control thrusters, improvements to the parachute joint design, and upgraded battery systems from NASA. It remains difficult to escape the words "sunk-cost fallacy" when considering the billions spent on the Starliner program.
然而，鉴于时间紧迫，以及在美国“龙飞船”（Dragon spacecraft）项目结束后仍需依赖美国制造的航天器来维持商业航天活动，人们自然希望尽快让这艘“灾难逃生舱”（Calamity Capsule）投入实际使用。
However, given the limited time available and the need to continue commercial access to orbit using US vehicles in a possible post-Crew Dragon environment, the desire to finally make the Calamity Capsule operational is understandable. ®